Nuvi 200 - Cheap but good?

I am tight. As tight as a nun's...........

The Zumo's are stupid money here in Turkey, so I'm after a cheap alternative, and the Nuvi 200 fits my enormously small budget. But, will it fit my requirements?

1. Bear in mind I'm a techno moron.
2. Does the Nuvi 200 support voice instructions that can be used with an ear piece?
3. Can it be used as a handheld unit?
4. What are the downsides of this unit when compared to expensive alternatives?
5. Will it make me look as if I know where I'm going?

I'm not bothered about bells 'n' whistles, waterproofing or buttons that can be used with gloves, I just need a unit that'll get me about.

Any opinions?

Nuvi 200 spec. is here......

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=9160

.....and there's even a selection of RAM Mounts for the Nuvi 200....

http://www.ram-mount.com/gps_mounts/model_garmin_gps_mount.htm

However, it'd be hard to recommend a Nuvi for motorcycle use over an extended period of time. It's not just a matter of waterproofing. The Nuvi is constructed primarily for in-car or hand-held use. The build quality of the powered mount, in particular, isn't really up to motorcycle use.

I purchased a Nuvi 770 recently which, because of its ready installed maps of both Europe and USA, was, to all intents and purposes, ideal for our recent 3 week holiday in California and Oregon and meant that I didn't need to lug my larger and heavier Streetpilot in my hand luggage. I intended to use the Nuvi in our rental car, on a rented GS in the SF Bay Area and on a borrowed GS in Oregon. However, on the second day in the Bay Area, the powered mount failed. The connector in the mount which accepts the power cable fell to pieces. I can only think that it wasn't up to the stresses imposed upon it by a cable flapping in the wind, albeit ever so slightly and the stress of the cable pulling on the socket when turning of the handlebars with the Nuvi RAM mounted on them.

Apart from that, I was very impressed with the routing of the Nuvi in the US. I fed voice instructions into my ears via a pair of Sennheiser CX300 earphones which provided a reasonable level of attenuation of wind noise inside my Arai Tour X, even at freeway speeds.

The specs say it has turn-by-turn voice directions, but do you know if this works with a bluetooth headset? I know the higher end models probably do, but what about this cheapie?

Nuvi 200 Spec

This is an important one....
Routes: 0

The Nuvi's can easily get you directly from A to Z, or from A to Z via a waypoint "X", what they typically dont do is get you from A to Z via B, C, D, E, F, G etc as they accept only one intermediate waypoint. As far as I can see the 200 is no different. Great to "get-me-home-from-wherever-I-am-now", but if you want to take a complex route you will have to continually update the device 'on-the-fly' with the next waypoint that you want to visit.

V

Looking at the details on the Nuvi box, there seem to be two reservations regarding its use on a motorcycle. The first is that it is not waterproof (and it rained in Istanbul when I went there). The other is that there is no audio output on the unit so you don't get voice prompts. Fitting one to a motorcycle is a matter of engineering or buying a mount but I can't see much benefit in the exercise. An expensive Nuvi (say a 660FM) with an FM radio transmitter used with a cheap radio and earpiece might work (I'd be interested to hear from anyone who'se done this) but I cant help but thing the best tool for the job is one designed for it.

Bear said:

An expensive Nuvi (say a 660FM) with an FM radio transmitter used with a cheap radio and earpiece might work (I'd be interested to hear from anyone who'se done this) but I cant help but thing the best tool for the job is one designed for it.

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I did think about using the FM transmitter on the Nuvi 770 to transmit voice instructions to my credit card sized FM radio. However, the FM transmitter on the Nuvi really isn't much good in the car, let alone on the bike. The 700 series Nuvis have a 3.5mm headphone jack so it was much simpler to plug my Sennheiser CX300s into that.

A used 2610 or quest would be even better.

Nuvi mountain

heads up look out for deals flying around soon offering 'white box' Nuvi (various models) seems there's a lot to clear

The Nuvi 2*5 series are in the shops now so look at the 2*0 models for bargains. Nuvi250W (UK, ROI and most of Europe) for GBP 139.99 (but not waterproof).

RAM-man said:

heads up look out for deals flying around soon offering 'white box' Nuvi (various models) seems there's a lot to clear

Click to expand...

Do keep us informed old chap.